The British tech sector can rest a little easier tonight after the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was sold to HSBC for just £1.
The intervention followed last week’s collapse of the subsidiary’s California-based parent company. The Bank of England (BoE) intervened over fears that mass withdrawals in the US would spread to the UK business.
Many of SVB UK’s 3,300 customers, which include numerous VC investors and startups, warned they would go bust if their deposits were lost. The BoE had initially planned to put the bank into insolvency, which would have only guaranteed protection for deposits worth up to £85,000, or £170,000 for joint accounts.
The deal with HSBC supersedes the insolvency plan. Customer deposits can now be protected without requiring taxpayer support.
“This action has been taken to stabilise SVB UK, ensuring the continuity of banking services, minimising disruption to the UK technology sector, and supporting confidence in the financial system,” the BoE said in a statement.
After the deal was announced, SVB UK said it was resuming normal operations.
Following the announcement that @HSBC_UK has acquired SVB UK, we’re resuming normal operations from today. Our clients should not notice any significant changes, however, there may be short delays across the next few days as we return to business as usual. Thanks for the support
TechUK, an industry lobby group, said the sale will be a relief for the British tech ecosystem.
“Without access to their deposits these companies faced the prospect of not being able to pay staff or rent or suppliers — in short many would also be facing insolvency and the many thousands of people working in this part of the tech sector would be very worried about their jobs!” said techUK CEO Julian David.
For HSCB, the acquisition of all SVB UK’s assets for a nominal £1 could be an extremely good deal. The Bank of London, which had also submitted a rescue bid, described the sale as a “missed opportunity.”
“It cannot be right that once again the heritage banks that have provided a poor service to UK entrepreneurs over many years benefit from their already dominant position,” the clearing bank said in a statement.
Legal experts are already pointing to the lessons for startups. Charles Fletcher, a partner at law firm Mishcon de Reya, recommended several steps that businesses can take to avoid the risks that SVB UK has exposed.
“Key actions include keeping corporate accounts with more than one bank, having an emergency funding plan to avoid cashflow squeezes, separating funds from different sources and taking a strategic approach to managing currencies,” said Fletcher.
“These should accompany fundamental business planning and management steps, such as a detailed risk register and crisis management protocols.”
The British tech sector can rest a little easier tonight after the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was sold to HSBC for just £1.
The intervention followed last week’s collapse of the subsidiary’s California-based parent company. The Bank of England (BoE) intervened over fears that mass withdrawals in the US would spread to the UK business.
Many of SVB UK’s 3,300 customers, which include numerous VC investors and startups, warned they would go bust if their deposits were lost. The BoE had initially planned to put the bank into insolvency, which would have only guaranteed protection for deposits worth up to £85,000, or £170,000 for joint accounts.
The deal with HSBC supersedes the insolvency plan. Customer deposits can now be protected without requiring taxpayer support.
“This action has been taken to stabilise SVB UK, ensuring the continuity of banking services, minimising disruption to the UK technology sector, and supporting confidence in the financial system,” the BoE said in a statement.
After the deal was announced, SVB UK said it was resuming normal operations.
Following the announcement that @HSBC_UK has acquired SVB UK, we’re resuming normal operations from today. Our clients should not notice any significant changes, however, there may be short delays across the next few days as we return to business as usual. Thanks for the support
TechUK, an industry lobby group, said the sale will be a relief for the British tech ecosystem.
“Without access to their deposits these companies faced the prospect of not being able to pay staff or rent or suppliers — in short many would also be facing insolvency and the many thousands of people working in this part of the tech sector would be very worried about their jobs!” said techUK CEO Julian David.
For HSCB, the acquisition of all SVB UK’s assets for a nominal £1 could be an extremely good deal. The Bank of London, which had also submitted a rescue bid, described the sale as a “missed opportunity.”
“It cannot be right that once again the heritage banks that have provided a poor service to UK entrepreneurs over many years benefit from their already dominant position,” the clearing bank said in a statement.
Legal experts are already pointing to the lessons for startups. Charles Fletcher, a partner at law firm Mishcon de Reya, recommended several steps that businesses can take to avoid the risks that SVB UK has exposed.
“Key actions include keeping corporate accounts with more than one bank, having an emergency funding plan to avoid cashflow squeezes, separating funds from different sources and taking a strategic approach to managing currencies,” said Fletcher.
“These should accompany fundamental business planning and management steps, such as a detailed risk register and crisis management protocols.”
The EU Commission is extending the relaxation of state aid rules to prevent green tech firms from relocating abroad and enable the bloc’s transition to a net-zero economy.
The rules around national subsidies had already been amended in 2022 as a response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, seeking to enable member states to more easily finance struggling companies and energy production in Europe.
Now, rising concerns about an escalating global subsidy race have pushed the EU to further prolong this temporary crisis framework — and even expand its scope to include support to domestic clean tech companies fighting climate change.
The move seems to be heavily influenced by the US’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which offers $369 billion in subsidies for green technologies “made in America.” This has triggered fears that EU companies will be tempted to relocate their business to the US.
To avoid a potentially catastrophic blow to the bloc’s long-term competitiveness in the green tech industry, the Commission has adapted the state aid rules to streamline the approval of subsidies for companies that accelerate the rollout of renewable energy, energy storage, and the decarbonisation of industrial production processes.
The EU has targeted six main sectors: batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, heat-pumps, electrolysers, and carbon capture usage and storage. This also includes production of key components as well as the manufacturing and recycling of related critical raw materials.
“The framework gives member states the option to offer aid in a fast, clear, and predictable way.
The amended rules will provide member states with more flexibility to inject public funds, allowing for higher aid ceilings and simplified aid calculations.
SMEs and companies located in disadvantaged regions are eligible for higher support, while EU nations can also access larger funds if the aid is provided via tax advantages, loans, or guarantees.
To prevent cases in which the risk of relocation is high, countries will have a “matching aid” option. That is, to match the subsidies offered by a non-EU government and keep the company within the union’sborders. Alternatively, member states will be able to cover the funding gap the company expects to have.
“Our rules protect the level playing field in the single market.
To ensure that these options don’t provoke unfair competition in the bloc, the Commission has put three safeguards in place:
The aid can be granted to companies in less developed areas, or to projects located in at least three member states.
Eligible companies need to use state-of-the-art production technology from an environmental emissions perspective.
The aid cannot trigger relocation of investments between member states.
EU countries can make use of the new rules until 31 December, 2025, but disbursements could continue afterwards as well.
“The framework that we have adopted today gives member states the option to give state aid in a fast, clear, and predictable way,” Margrethe Vestager, Executive VP in charge of competition policy, said in a statement.
“Our rules enable member states to accelerate net-zero investments at this critical moment, while protecting the level playing field in the single market and cohesion objectives. The new rules are proportionate, targeted, and temporary.”
Cargo ports are vital transport hubs in the world economy. Around 90% of all globally traded goods by tonnage is transported by sea and in 2021, a whopping 3.5 billion tonnes of freight passed through EU ports alone.
Antwerp was the second-largest port in Europe — spreading across 120km² — before a merger with Bruges in 2022 created a combined port area of 160km² and the biggest chemical cluster on the continent.
València’s expanding port is the largest on the European Mediterranean in terms of container traffic — and dates back to 1491. Its port authority, Valènciaport, is responsible for València, plus Gandía and Sagunto ports along the coast.
Ahead of their talks at TNW València in March, we spoke to Erwin Verstraelen, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, and Juan Manuel Díez, Strategy and Innovation Director at the Port Authority of València, about how they are pursuing the newest advances in tech to transform their ports.
“Ports are not just logistics hubs, they’re also becoming the industrial and energy hubs for Europe as part of the European Green Deal, so we are in a complete transformation of our core activity and digital innovation plays a significant role in that,” Verstraelen told TNW.
Verstraelen was appointed CDIO at Port of Antwerp-Bruges in 2017.
Ports ecosystems are facing what Verstaelen calls the “perfect storm” at the convergence of geopolitics, digitisation, mobility, sustainable growth, and the energy transition.
Zero-emissions
“We have a very ambitious goal: we want to be carbon neutral in 2030,” València’s Díez told TNW in his office overlooking the cargo terminals. “Already all the electricity that is consumed in the port comes from renewable sources — we buy it with this condition – but we have our own plans to produce electricity here in the port.”
València’s 300-plus annual days of sun will be put to good use, with the first of three solar plants in the port already launched. Gandía is on track to become the first energy self-sufficient European port, according to Díez.
“We have been thinking for many years now about installing windmills in our breakwaters but the technology wasn’t there,” said Díez. “Now it is advancing and we have plans for our own wind farm in the coming years.”
Díez has spent over 12 years working for the Port Authority of Valencia.
The new cargo terminal in the port of València will be 98% electrified and the remaining 2% will use hydrogen, he added, making it “the most sustainable terminal in Southern Europe for sure.”
Getting to zero emissions means mobilising the whole port community. Valènciaport recently launched a pioneering project to test the use of green hydrogen for moving machinery inside the port, with an H2 storage tank and mobile hydrogen generator. The next stage will be to test hydrogen-powered prototypes of a container stacker and tractor.
Digital twins
Access to instant information is essential for ports. Both Antwerp-Bruges and València are investing in sophisticated “digital twins” of their port areas.
In València, the digital twin includes a Port Collaborative Decision Making (Port CdM) System, which could reduce a ship’s average call time by 10%.
The digital twin of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges is a virtual copy of the port area with real-time information.
“Arrivals in a port are not on a precise clock, but by having and using timely information, the port can prepare in advance, e.g. by letting a ship know there is no mooring available at that moment so it can slow its speed, use less fuel, and reduce emissions,” said Díez.
The Port of Antwerp-Bruges is one of the first in the world to have a digital twin of its territory, according to Verstraelen.
“By equipping the entire port area with sensors, cameras, drones, we create a digital nervous system on top of the physical port,” he said. “And if you bring all these data feeds together in what we call a digital twin, the people responsible for safety and security will be positioned or alerted if something is taking place in the port the moment it happens and can act immediately upon it.”
Sensors monitor the port’s air quality to detect not just CO2 and other gas emissions but also volatile organic compounds like benzene and toluene — vital intelligence considering the size of the Antwerp-Bruges chemical cluster.
The Port of Antwerp-Bruges is home to Belgium’s sole terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG). Credit: Port of Antwerp-Bruges
Once an air quality monitor triggers an alarm, different data sources offer information on wind speed and direction to indicate where an emission is coming from, and the location of ships in the port based on their automatic identification system (AIS) tracker. The data is then filtered to show tankers and turn cameras in the direction of the emission.
“In real-time, you see that there is for example an illegal or an accidental degasification of a tanker ship taking place,” Verstraelen said.
By applying algorithms to AIS data, they not only create situational awareness but also prescriptive awareness about something that will need looking at from a safety, security, or operational perspective.
The last step will be predicting what will happen a few hours ahead and acting on it in terms of allocating tugboats and pilots, knowing how the wind is going to change or if a storm is coming.
‘Outside-in’ innovation
All this innovation is a springboard for fresh ideas. As well as being an active member of Spain’s Ports 4.0 initiative with its €20 million equity fund, València has its own acceleration/incubation program, Opentop. The program, which works with startups focused on many aspects of port operations, will also be exhibiting in the València Ecosystem Pavilion at TNW València.
One of the young startups the port collaborates with is We Are Lab. The company has been developing ways to plant Posidonia, a Mediterranean seagrass that is tricky to grow but awesome for capturing CO2 from the ocean. Posidonia in the port breakwaters can be used to clean the surrounding sea.
Zeleros, the València-based Hyperloop scaleup, is also a partner, and currently trialling a test track in Sagunto to move cargo around the port in an emission-free way.
A fourth container terminal is currently under construction in València. Credit: Valènciaport
Up north in Antwerp-Bruges, Verstraelen explains that when it comes to fostering innovation, he cultivates a “what if” mentality, opening up the port as an ecosystem for “outside-in” innovation.
“We decided to open up the port as an innovation platform, inviting promising technologies to come and demonstrate their added value, and allowing them to make themselves market-mature faster,” Verstraelen said.
One of the noteworthy startups backed by Antwerp-Bruges in 2018 to work on barges is remote-piloting technology startup SEAFAR. The largest concentration of barges in Europe is in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany and they account for around 40% of all cargo passing through Antwerp-Bruges.
However, with older barge captains retiring and fewer new ones replacing them, the time was ripe for a big change. In light of these trends, the port went “all in” to enable the four-person startup to demonstrate that its tech could remote-pilot one of the port’s ships.
“As a consequence of that they got permission from the regional government to operate ships in a commercial way the year after,” said Verstraelen. “Today, SEAFAR is 30 people, there are barge owners building new ships to be remotely piloted, and they are sailing around commercial cargo with ships that are operated from more than 100 kilometres away.”
A remote pilot, who can handle three or four crafts at the same time, means a reduction in labour costs and more on-board cargo space as there’s no need for living quarters.
Drones and spills
In terms of new tech, Antwerp-Bruges puts the emphasis on proof of value rather than proof of concept. Service drones are a good case in point as the size and complexity of the port makes it the perfect test ground.
The idea to have multiple automated drones simultaneously airborne over the port, performing oil spill and litter detection, asset management inspection, and supporting police and fire brigades had been germinating since 2018. However, there was no existing legal framework and it was forbidden to operate automated drones beyond visual line of sight in a no-fly zone like a port.
By demonstrating proof of value and relevant use cases, the government agencies were finally able to okay them and develop legislation for their use in the port.
“We are the fifth largest bunkering [supplying fuel for ships] port on the planet and you can imagine that accidents do happen,” Verstraelen said. “It’s important once we spot an oil spill to see where it is floating and how big it is if we call in the specialised services to clean it up.” Thanks to drones, these teams know what they need to do and what kind of equipment they need before they leave.
The drones have cameras that supply live feeds to central control, and the port is also developing algorithms that can detect spills in the camera feed. “You don’t want a ship going through an oil spill, because then it becomes polluted and it takes the entire thing with it,” Verstraelen said.
The Kieldrecht lock in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges is the largest lock in the world. Credit: Port of Antwerp-Bruges
Tech is evolving so fast that “the biggest mistake you can make is to say we tried it in the past and it didn’t work,” according to Verstraelen. “If something doesn’t work now, try it again in six months, 12, 18, and 24 months from now.”
He points to speech-to-text AI, which the port tried to use a few years ago to translate very high-frequency (VHF) radio communication between ships. The team hoped to mine the data for sentiment analysis indicating a potential conflict between captains, but the tech wasn’t ready for the task.
“We tried it a month ago, again, with the same sound file… and it was 95% spot on. So in less than two years, it went from completely useless to completely and utterly usable on a daily basis.”
Both ports reflect the leaps that authorities are making to modernise, tackle climate goals, and prepare their ports for the future.
Their efforts are already reaping impressive results. Verstraelen describes his port’s ecosystem as “the most impressive innovation breeding ground I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
If you want to experience València and its ecosystem for yourself, we’ve got something special for our loyal readers. Use the promo code TNWVAL30 and get a 30% discount on your conference business pass for TNW València.
Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives. Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives.
Under the Chips Act, the EU is seeking to end its dependence on China and produce 20% of the world’s semiconductors by 2030. Amidst the political push, attracting global giants to invest in the union’s domestic production has been a key strategy — with Intel’s plan to construct a massive chip plant in Magdeburg, Germany, considered a big boost for the bloc.
But now, Intel is asking the German government for an additional €4 billion to 5 billion in subsidies to move forward with the project, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter.
In March 2022, Intel announced an initial investment plan of over €33 billion (reaching €80 billion within the next decade) to strengthen the EU’s semiconductor industry across the entire value chain. This included the megasite in Germany, a new chip research centre in France, a back-end manufacturing facility in Italy, and the expansion of its existing chip factory in Ireland, lab in Poland, and supercomputing centre in Spain.
Construction of the much-anticipated semiconductor factory in Magdeburg was postponed at the end of last year due to economic hurdles, as a result of the high energy prices and inflation following Russia’s war on Ukraine, according to the report.
Artist’s impression of Intel’s chip plant in Germany. The factory is expected to generate 3,000 high-tech jobs. Credit: Intel
Intel had initially estimated that the project would cost €17 billion and had reached an agreement for €6.8 billion in government subsidies. Now, however, the company expects to spend €30 billion — thus requiring further government aid. It’s also open to tax breaks or energy subsidies.
“Disruptions in the global economy have resulted in increased costs, from construction materials to energy,” Intel said in a statement. “We appreciate the constructive dialogue with the federal government to address the cost gap that exists with building in other locations and make this project globally competitive.”
According to Bloomberg, Intel is likely to delay its project in Italy as well, and is currently in discussions with the Italian government. On the plus side, the research centre in France and the facility’s expansion in Ireland seem to be on track.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has characterized Intel’s investment as “the first major achievement” under the new Chips Act. “It’s a considerable contribution to the European chips ecosystem that we’re building right now,” she commented after the tech giant’s announcement.
The continent’s weak position in the global semiconductor market was especially evident during the pandemic, demonstrating that chips are integral to the EU’s digital and green transitions as well as its geopolitical agenda. But although the bloc has managed to attract a numberof investors, it seems that fully enabling their project still remains a challenge.
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Women’s Day is a day when we celebrate the achievements of the amazing women founders, developers, and VCs that are bringing innovation and disruption to the Dutch tech ecosystem.
But it should also be a day when we confront the barriers and challenges women continue to face. The fact that International Women’s Day still exists is both a sign of progress but also a sign that, in our society, inequality is endemic and not always clearly visible on the surface. The ultimate goal will be when everyday is ‘Women’s Day.’
Although we’ve made progress and we should celebrate that, the truth is that we’re still far from reaching this point. According to Techleap.nl’s State of Dutch Tech Report 2023, women-led startups account for only 5.2% of all VC deals and just 0.7% of funding raised.
An important point that we need to bring home is that ‘women’ is an extremely broad term that doesn’t take into account the intersectionality and thereby diverse experiences women in the tech industry face when launching and growing a business.
One example of this is the fact that the Netherlands has little to no data on women of colour founders, from how many are represented in the ecosystem to how much funding they receive.
As we’ve covered in the past, Europe and the Netherlands’ diversity gap is largely hidden due to a lack of data. And this problem is particularly acute in a country which is trying to attract a large amount of tech talent from abroad. As a Black Latinx female founder, Christina Caljé told TNW she sees Europe, and the Netherlands in particular, as being “five to 10 years behind” the USA in the ethnic diversity conversation, in part because of the lack of data.
There’s not really a conversation yet from a professional perspective [on ethnicity]. When you talk to the stakeholders who would be well-positioned to try to lead, launch, or fund programmes, you always get down to this issue: ‘Well, is it really a problem here in the Netherlands? We don’t really have the data around it, so we can’t really diagnose this as an actual problem to address.’
That’s why this Women’s Day we want to focus on women of colour who’ve built successful tech businesses in the Netherlands. We want to celebrate their achievements, share their words of wisdom, and, most of all, hear from them about what they think needs to change to clear the path for the next generation of founders.
1. “The ‘typical’ investor often can’t relate to us” — Micky Chen
Many students struggle with the same issue: do I get a job as a barista and earn some extra cash or spend time on an unpaid internship and gain experience (while living off microwave pizzas)?
Micky Chen and her sister Linky realised there’s really no need to go for one or the other. There are plenty of early-stage startups out there that need the muscle, but don’t have the cash to hire full time employees. Meanwhile, there are plenty of students out there who want to try out different careers and meet potential employers, while still getting paid for their work. From this realisation, the sisters launched Minite in 2020. The platform connects companies to top students available to work on projects at hourly freelance rates.
Minite was bootstrapped for the first 1.5 years and managed to grow at an impressive 25-35% month over month. In January 2022, they launched their first funding round and have since secured 300k in investment.
Yet, while they had a number of enthusiastic investors approach them, they also experienced their share of bias with one VC telling Chen outright that having a man on their founding team would help them attract investment. For her, the biggest barrier facing women of colour founders is:
The lack of diversity among investors. The ‘typical’ investor often can’t relate to us, because we don’t look like them. Many people invest in those that they identify with. Investing in people of colour is in fact a great business opportunity. We often literally come from far, and have overcome a mountain of challenges before having embarked on our entrepreneurial journeys. We’re incredibly resilient and have unique perspectives and experiences, and that makes us strong, driven entrepreneurs.
My sister (also my co-founder) and I know how to execute and are proud of everything we have achieved with Minite — yet, we too have faced our fair share of investor biases. It’s important to work towards creating a more equitable and supportive ecosystem that provides all entrepreneurs with the resources and opportunities they need to succeed.
What’s one piece of advice Chen would like to share with would-be founders?
Find your why! That means understanding the core values and beliefs that drive you as a person and how you want to apply them to your business. Identify the problem you want to solve and the positive impact you want to have. How can you make a difference through your business?
If you find your why, everything else will fall into place. Whenever I’m having a bad day, I remind myself of my why. And that is to help the next generation prepare for their future, and provide them with the opportunities I lacked as a student myself.
2. “I’m always in a room with Dutch men in their late 30s that only invested in/worked with companies founded by other Dutch men in their 30s” — Layla Li
As AI becomes a key technology underpinning everything from the way we’re hired to the way we’re screened for health issues, failing to identify and mitigate bias could have deep societal impacts. KOSA is helping arm companies with the tools they need to introduce responsible AI principles.
After having worked in a number of large corporates, including Philipps and Tesla, across a number of countries (Japan, the US, Kenya, and the Netherlands), tech inclusion and the challenge that the advent of new AI tools bring to this complicated issue became a passion for Layla Li.
She and co-founder Sonali Sanghrajka founded KOSA in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, growing a remote team that spans across The Netherlands, Kenya, India, Ethiopia, North Macedonia, and South Korea. With diversity already deeply embedded in her company’s DNA, for Li, the lack of women of colour in the Dutch tech industry has been stark to say the least:
I have yet to meet a woman of colour in leadership positions across the Dutch tech ecosystems, maybe a couple of startup founders, but more often than not, I’m in a room of Dutch men in their late 30s that only invested in/worked with companies founded by other Dutch men in their 30s. We need more female decision-makers that will understand the issues other female entrepreneurs are facing and solving.
On top of often being the outsider in the room, Li and her team still face the challenge of convincing investors of the extreme importance of AI responsibility. In an interview with TechCrunch, Eghosa Omoigui, founder of EchoVC Partners shared that when leading an investment round for the company:
Quite a few investors that we spoke to about the opportunity felt very strongly that AI bias wasn’t a thing or that a ‘woke product’ wouldn’t have product-market fit, which is surprising, to say the least.
But these barriers won’t faze Li’s drive to bring ethical AI standards to the tech world.
“Very rarely will people tell you that you’re doing a good job once you become an entrepreneur, you’re just faced with new challenges day after day, you have to motivate yourself and everyone else around you, so work on something you’re truly passionate about, otherwise it’s hard to keep at it,” Li told TNW.
3. “Female entrepreneurs of colour are at a greater risk of having their ideas replicated without consent” — Iffat Rose Gill
Iffat Rose Gill has long been a champion for the inclusion of women through a number of innovative digital initiatives she’s launched across Europe, Asia, and Africa. In 2010, she launched The Code to Change, which is aimed at tackling both the gender and skills gap within the tech industry by training women and underrepresented groups in digital skills.
The program has so far impacted 15,000 women across Europe and Asia with its digital-skills training programs. In addition to trainings, they also offer inspirational events and policy advice to governments on how they can work towards gender equality through the economic empowerment of women. Her newest initiative, Digital Starling, is aimed at connecting women tech talent in Asia and Africa with early-stage, women-led startups that need help scaling.
For the amazing work she’s done, Gill’s been recognized as one of the Wonder Women of Amsterdam by the city and as one of the “female solopreneurs to watch in 2022” by Silicon Canals. She was also nominated for the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education.
With a lifetime of experience in the hurdles facing greater inclusion and equality in the tech industry, TNW asked Gill what she believes are the biggest challenges we need to tackle now.
First and foremost, (aside from equal access to funding) she pointed out that women of colour often also lack social capital and networks in heavily male-dominated industries such as the Netherlands. In Gill’s view, what’s needed are more support programs, such as accelerators and networking events, as well as partnerships between government, academia, and industry specifically aimed at supporting women of colour. Standalone mentoring programs that are geared towards ‘fixing women’ instead of the system are also ineffective. Instead we need access to mentoring which is geared towards capital.
The second biggest challenge she sees is business ethics, an issue which she’s faced herself and has been approached about by other women.
Female entrepreneurs of colour are at a greater risk of having their ideas replicated without consent in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, as they face both gender and race-based biases. This unethical practice not only undermines the hard work and creativity of these entrepreneurs, but also perpetuates systemic inequalities in the business world. Investors, incubators, and other stakeholders must work towards creating a level playing field where innovative ideas are valued, protected, and credited to their rightful owners.
Finally, while a lot of programs and initiatives aimed at women of colour are meant to be supportive, there is a very real possibility that they can actually be more damaging.
Often, we are invited to speak on panels or participate in projects solely for the purpose of filling a diversity quota or checking a box. While we appreciate the opportunity to showcase our expertise and perspectives, these opportunities often come with a catch: we are never compensated for our time, and our expertise and talent are exploited for free. This exploitative practice is disguised under the guise of ‘we are giving you exposure’ or ‘we are providing you with a stage to send your message out.’ Not only is tokenism wrong, but it also hurts us and our businesses.
4. “To grow a diverse team, we had to change the way we did our application process, how we appealed to candidates, etc.” — Lethabo Motsoaledi
You may have a great product, a great marketing team, and sales going through the roof, but having just a few bad reviews from disgruntled customers can make or break your business. That’s why Lethabo Motsoaledi and Matthew Westaway created Voyc in 2018, an AI based platform that monitors and analyses conversations between customers and call centre reps.
Originally from South Africa, Motsoaledi shared that the pair decided to move their HQ to Amsterdam in 2020 because the Dutch government has put a lot of investment into the startup ecosystem, providing more opportunities. Motsoaledi told TNW:
It’s phenomenal. The luxury of being a startup in the Netherlands is that you can just focus on the problem your startup is trying to solve whereas, in other countries and regions, where there are social and political issues, political instability, and infrastructure issues, you not only have to solve x but also y and z and every other problem that the ecosystem is supposed to solve.
For founders coming from abroad, she said the YES!Delft community and the Hague Business Agency were extremely helpful in providing support and networking opportunities. After moving to Amsterdam, Motsoaledi and her team also joined the BOLD community by Techleap.nl and participated in a new program called Exceptional Leaders in Tech that hosts dinners where diverse founders can meet and share their insights on what the government can do to build a diverse and inclusive ecosystem.
At the same time, Motsoaledi was surprised to hear that the number of women founders in the Netherlands is alarmingly low in comparison to other countries. This is something she believes could be helped by improving the visibility of these founders.
The same goes for diversity within startups. A recent study by the University of Amsterdam found that in one in five startups women represent less than 15% of the workforce and, in those cases, women applicants are almost 30% less likely to apply. Motsoaledi shared her tips:
Our team at Voyc is now sitting at a 50/50 diversity ratio in terms of men and women, and I’ll tell you, it was incredibly difficult to get there. We had to change the way we did our application process, how we appealed to candidates, etc. to make sure women feel confident to apply for our roles. You have to start from the beginning, not forgetting that, if your leadership team or your board is just white men, women and people of colour are going to be hesitant to apply. It’s a perpetuating system.
Advice Motsoaledi wanted to share with newbie founders: “Stay as close to the problem as you can and be more passionate about the problem than the solution.”
5. “We are seeing a strong trend where angel investors are stepping in to plug the funding gap at the early stages” —Christina Caljé
A former Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, Christina Caljé, became a serial entrepreneur successfully launching and scaling several businesses including Autheos, a video-marketing platform, which was acquired in 2021.
With the vast knowledge she acquired in raising capital and breaking into different markets, Caljé has now taken on the VC world serving as an advisor, mentor, and angel investor for pre-seed startups, with a particular focus on investing in women founders and founders of colour. She shared some important insights into the current market that founders should take note of:
The ‘market correction’ in the VC fundraising market has impacted founders throughout the fundraising life cycle, resulting in slower fundraising cycles and normalising of valuations to historical levels. I see these both as healthy dynamics, though, because in actuality the extreme dynamics we saw during the prior 18 months were not setting up founders for success in future fundraising cycles, we are now seeing that play out now with down/flat rounds in the headlines.
Founders onboarded misaligned investors without proper vetting, at too high valuations that necessitated unrealistic milestones in short order to validate appreciated valuations at future fundraises. Moreover, the underperformance of public markets and inflationary dynamics empower investors to employ fear tactics around capital access. In reality, there is still a lot of ‘dry powder’ out there, meaning funds that raised capital in the past 12 months but have yet to deploy it. Founders just need to spend some extra time researching and developing relationships with the right investors for their proposition / vision.
Caljé explained that women founders of colour will have an advantage in this upcoming period because a number of VC funds, angel syndicates, and accelerator programs were launched in the past 18 months in the wake of BLM with a specific mandate to invest in black and brown founders.
I see the fastest and most impactful change coming from the angel investor community. Whether it be via direct investment or syndicated investment vehicles, we are seeing a strong trend where angel investors are stepping in to plug the funding gap at the earliest stages, particularly for gender and ethnically diverse communities. The much sought after ‘fly-wheel’ effect first seen in Silicon Valley is finally reaching this side of the Atlantic; a positive feedback loop in which success breeds a self-sustaining cycle of investment and success!
For all you future founders out there, Caljé shared her top tips on how to successfully fundraise (in any market):
1. Know what you’re looking for from an investor and do your diligence
This is particularly important for earlier stage companies that are still working towards product market fit and commercial traction. Identify those investors (angel or pre/seed venture funds) who understand your sector challenges and timelines, and be clear about what you want them to bring to the table. Is it a network in a target client base? Experience? Geographic access? Product or sector knowledge?
Discuss this upfront and ask for examples of how they’ve delivered such value to their portfolio companies. When considering a lead investor, reach out to their portfolio companies and speak to the founder(s); they’ll most likely give you a candid and honest picture of what it’s like to have that investor on the cap table.
2. It’s not about tailoring the story to the investor, it’s about finding the audience to match your story
As a founder, I understand the frustration when the fundraising process feels long and drawn out because it’s distracting us from what we really want to do — build and grow. But, investing the time in researching potential investors, building relationships and ensuring that you onboard the right investor to match your business needs will bring huge ROI and set you up for success in the longer term. Its importance should not be underestimated.
3. Fundraising is a relay
Once your first fundraise is behind you, you should expect that your investors, whether angel or VC, will provide you with intros to follow-on investors. Many times, we will have preferred funding partners that we ‘pass the baton’ to for the next stage of fundraising. An important thing to realise is that your first investors will set the tone for future fundraises; with each stage, keep in mind how this round will set you up for success in the next round. Remember, it’s a numbers game and you should aim for 50-100+ investor names on your target list.
Want to learn more about the amazing products and opportunities these founders have to offer? TNW is offering all five a free startup pass to the annual TNW Conference in June 2023 including an exhibition booth where you can meet them in person and learn more about their solution.
Whether you’re a future leader or a talented innovator, check out the Women-in-Tech Business Pass which provides discounted rates for all tech talent who identify as women.
Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives. Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives.
The European Commission has launched a new €7.5 million grant scheme to help Ukrainian SMEs integrate and benefit from the single market.
The so-called ReadyForEU scheme comprises two calls for proposals directed to Ukraine-based businesses and entrepreneurs: the Business Bridge and the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs — Ukraine. The calls follow the country’s recent entrance into the singlemarket programme, which is also providing the funding.
“ We’re offering tangible financial support for small Ukrainian businesses and entrepreneurs.
The Business Bridge
With a budget of €4.5 million, this action offers financial support to SMEs affected by the war, in the form of vouchers. These will enable the companies to access services and take part in trade fairs in the EU.
A dedicated consortium of business organisations will select up to 1,500 growth- and sustainability-oriented Ukrainian SMEs, which will receive up to €2,500. The grant’s purpose is to cover costs related to business support services, such as legal, financial, or organisational advice.
According to the Commission, the call will not only support companies involved as well as boost the reconstruction of the Ukrainian economy, but also provide alternative markets to EU businesses, following the loss of the Russian and Belarusian markets.
The Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs — Ukraine
With a budget of €3 million, the second call aims to enable new Ukrainian entrepreneurs to gain business experience in other European countries.
It will select organisations in the Ukraine and the EU to recruit up to 430 entrepreneurs and match them with host entrepreneurs based in the bloc. It will also provide them with financial support and contribute to their living and travel expenses.
“Europe is committed to supporting Ukraine’s successful integration in the single market,” Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market, said in a statement. “With today’s calls for proposals, we are offering tangible financial support for small Ukrainian businesses and entrepreneurs to build new partnerships with other European companies and expand into the EU.”
Ukrainian SMEs and entrepreneurs will be able to apply in the final quarter of this year.
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Rishi Sunak has enraged British scientists after dimming hopes of rejoining the EU’s Horizon programme.
Prospects of reentering the €96 billion research scheme had grown after a new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland was struck on Monday. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen described the agreement as “good news” for scientists and researchers. She said work to associate the UK with Horizon could start “immediately” after implementing the terms.
Scientists had overwhelmingly welcomed the breakthrough. Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society, the UK’s foremost collective of scientific voices, called for access to Horizon to be swiftly secured.
“These schemes support outstanding international collaboration, and the sooner we join them, the better for everyone,” Smith said in a statement. “The government has stated that the UK is more committed than ever to strong research collaboration with our European partners.”
This optimism quickly faded. According to a new report in Financial Times, Prime Minister Sunak is “sceptical” about the benefits and cost of Horizon. Officials said Sunak will review other options, including a new global research collaboration.
The news sparked fury among scientists.
“This is unspeakably idiotic.
As the world’s biggest research programme, Horizon has been praised for enhancing collaboration, research standards, and supply chains for businesses — all of which are now at risk for the UK. Scientists fear that a continued absence from the scheme will lead British R&D to fall behind globally.
Dr Mike Galsworthy, a researcher and campaigner described Sunak’s plan as “unspeakably idiotic.”
“To be a science superpower or anything close to it, we need to rejoin Horizon enthusiastically… and *theninvest in conferences, meetings, and new mechanisms to rapidly re-establish the UK as a European team leader,” Galsworth said in a tweet. “So WHAT is Rishi Sunak playing at?”
Opposition politicians have also slammed the intervention. Chi Onwurah, a shadow science minister and former engineer, noted that the ruling Conservative party previously promised to associate with Horizon.
“No Plan B can match Horizon Europe for funding, influence or range,” she said. “Breaking this promise would be a massive Sunak failure.”
Britains science and business know association w Horizon Europe is in the country’s best interests. Tory 2019 manifesto promised to achieve it. No Plan B can match Horizon Europe for funding, influence or range. Breaking this promise would be a massive Sunak failure. https://t.co/guc7TTfkNL
Debate is raging about Sunak’s motivations. Some observers suspect he wants to do genome research that the EU would find unethical, while others argue that his stalling is merely a negotiating ploy.
Regardless of his tactics, researchers want a quick return to Horizon — before the UK’s international standing is further damaged
Names like Flywire, Fever, and Jeff are well-known, but there are tons more Valèncian startups and scaleups making waves at home and abroad. Ahead of The Next Web’s first conference in València on the 30th and 31st of March, we’re zooming in on 10 noteworthy local startups, selected by TNW and its key strategic conference partners: Lanzadera, Marina de Empresas, and Startup València.
Let’s dive in.
Zeleros Hyperloop
Zeleros Hyperloop is one of the world’s leading hyperloop developers. Since its founding in 2016 by Juan Vicen Balaguer (CMO), David Pistoni (CEO), and Daniel Orient (CTO), Zeleros has been working on the ultra-fast train that will transport people and cargo through vacuum tubes on maglev tracks at speeds of up to 1000kph.
The founders of Zeleros Hyperloop. From left to right: Daniel Orient (CTO), David Pistoni (CEO), and Juan Vicen Balaguer (CMO). Credit: Zeleros Hyperloop.
With €15 million raised so far, and over 50 core staff, they are also using the time until the trains can launch (not before 2030) to work on advanced battery tech and trial automated tracks in local ports.
Zeleros Hyperloop will be speaking at TNW València, while Juan Vicen Balaguer is one of the event’s advisors.
Quibim
Founded in 2015 by Dr. Ángel Alberich-Bayarri — another conference speaker — and Prof. Luis Marti-Bonmati, medtech company Quibim has grown to over 70 staff in Madrid, Barcelona, New York and Cambridge, UK.
The company’s AI-powered radiology diagnostics platform is used by hospitals and medical researchers to detect pathologies using imaging biomarkers, with algorithms developed for more than 20 diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer’s. Quibim raised a seed round of €8 million in 2020.
Sesame HR
Founded by Albert Soriano in 2015, Sesame HR is on a huge roll with their human resource management platform that automates time-consuming processes like payroll and onboarding. The team numbers 200 employess now, as well as over 6,000 clients and 150,000 users in 30-plus countries across Europe and Latin America. Sesame raised a €10 million round and opened offices in Madrid and Barcelona in 2022; it recently set up shop in Mexico City too.
Sesame HR’s founder Albert Soriano. Credit: Sesame HR
Internxt
A player in the internet privacy sphere since 2020, Internxt — one of the 60+ exhibiting startups at TNW València — is going up against the international corporate giants with a suite of encrypted cloud services including Internxt Drive storage, Internxt Photos, and Internxt Send.
The Internxt team. Credit: Internxt
It’s not just about “military grade encryption” for individuals and businesses, but also about reducing energy consumption by storing data closer to the end users. Founder and CEO Fran Villalba Segarra’s startup employs 20 people and has raised €4 million at a €40 million valuation.
Voicemod
Voicemod’s AI-powered voice augmentation software generates “voice avatars” in real time for video gamers and virtual content creators. Founded by brothers Jaime, Fernando, and Juan Bosch in 2014, Voicemod has grown to over 150 staff, and said recently that they have 3.3 million monthly active users. It acquired Catalan AI music tech company Voctro Labs in December.
Voicemod’s founders. From left to right: Fernando, Jaime, and Juan Bosch. Credit: Voicemod
Funding-wise, Voicemod raised €7.1 million in Series A in 2020, and announced another $14.5 million raise this month.
ClimateTrade
ClimateTrade’s B2B blockchain-based climate platform helps companies counterbalance their carbon footprint by buying carbon offsets from climate projects via a virtual marketplace. Founded in 2017, it also offers an API that lets companies offer carbon-neutral products and services to their customers. ClimateTrade opened a US HQ in Miami in mid-2022.
ClimateTrade’s team; at the centre, CEO and co-founder Fran Benedito. Credit: ClimateTrade
The startup closed a €7 million pre-Series A round in 2021, and has announced plans to raise another €13 million in a US-focused round for international expansion.
Sales Layer
SaaS scaleup Sales Layer closed a whopping Series B round of €24 million in June 2022 for further expansion in Europe and the US of its cloud-based product information management tool. Its software automates complex B2B processes and connects companies’ products to sales platforms across the supply chain.
Founded by Álvaro Verdoy and Iban Borràs in 2013, the startup was named in G2’s 2023 Best Software awards for the second year in a row.
Sale Layer’s founding duo. From left to right: Álvaro Verdoy and Iban Borràs. Credit: Sales Layer
Rosita Longevity
Rosita Longevity, the team behind the largest longevity school in Europe, is another one to watch. The startup uses biomarkers to track physical condition and create individualised activity plans for live classes with personal health trainers, via an app. Rosita’s users were shown to have reduced their risk of falling (a key metric to measure frailty) from 36% to 6% after three months.
Rosita Longevity’s founders. From left to right: Juan Cartagena (CEO), Clara Fernandez (CCO), and David Gil (CTO). Credit: Rosita Lonegity
Co-founders Juan Cartagena, Clara Fernandez, and David Gil raised a €2.4 million seed round this year to launch in the lucrative US market.
NARIA
Headquartered in Castellón de la Plana, NARIA was created in 2019 by CEO Kilian Zaragozá and COO Josevi Villarroig. The blockchain platform connects food industry outlets such as hotels, restaurants, and supermarkets with places like food banks to ensure excess food goes to those in need. NARIA app users can also make food donations, which are sent to digital wallets of people who need help buying groceries in supermarkets.
The startup has received €726,000 in investment so far and is currently raising a further €400,000 in private equity.
Passporter
A travel tech contender to keep an eye on. Valencia’s Passporter app lets you plan, book, and organise itineraries in over 75 global destinations, and record trips to share with others through a virtual passport.
Credit: Passporter
The startup was founded in 2016 by Diego Rodríguez and Andrea Cayon, both co-CEOs, and so far has reportedly raised around €900,000.
If you want to experience València’s ecosystem for yourself and listen to some of these startup founders speak on stage, we’ve got something special for our loyal readers. Use the promo code TNWVAL30 and get a 30% discount on yourconference business passfor TNW València.
Why can’t European tech companies compete with Silicon Valley giants? It’s a perennial conundrum for the continent’s IT leaders — and one that Phill Robinson is trying to solve.
After a globetrotting career as a tech executive, Robinson returned home to the UK and founded Boardwave, a networking platform that wants to make Europe a software superpower.
The concept emerged from Robinson’s diverse background in the sector. The entrepreneur spent decades traversing Europe and Silicon Valley, in roles ranging from CMO of Salesforce.com during its IPO to CEO of Dutch software giant Exact.
These experiences exposed several advantages for tech firms in the US. Robinson zeroed in on one: the breeding ground for success created by Silicon Valley’s tight-knit community. The small area of land interconnects a multitude of tech whizzes, entrepreneurs, investors, and advisers. In Europe, meanwhile, the business environment is highly fragmented.
To emulate the valley’s network effects, Robinson founded Boardwave. At TNW Valencia on 30 March, he promises to share further insights on building tech giants.
Ahead of the talk, Robinson unveiled one of his most ambitious proposals: creating a pan-European version of Nasdaq.
Robinson wants Boardwave’s online platform and in-person events to create new connections for European software firms. Credit: Boardwave
Nasdaq is the world’s premier marketplace for tech stocks. Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft all went public on the exchange. In Europe, there’s no comparable trading venue, which restricts the growth of startups.
“There isn’t a single tech market here in Europe,” Robinson tells TNW. “Nor is there the knowledge, experience, and understanding of software from investors in public markets. They don’t know how to value software companies, they don’t understand how they operate, and they don’t understand the intrinsic value of them.”
These circumstances contribute to a vast “exit gap” between European and US firms. In Europe, tech founders often sell their businesses while they’re still private — and miss the chance to maximise their valuations on the public market.
Those that do pursue an IPO typically list in the US.
“Either they go on the NYSE or on the NASDAQ,” says Robinson. “At that point, you’re not a European software company anymore — you suddenly become a US software company.”
Arm’s hammer blow
Arm’s flotation plans provide a painful example of the impacts. The British chip giant is set to snub pleas from the UK government to list in London and instead float in New York. Even offers to bend stork market rules have failed to convince the company to go public in its home country.
Analysts attribute the decision to the US investment landscape’s bigger equity markets, focus on growth, and history of generating higher valuations. European investors, by contrast, have a reputation for being risk-averse and short-termist.
A Nasdaq listing also increases confidence that a company will be around for the long haul.
“It’s a step towards being a global leader, which we don’t have in Europe,” says Robinson.
It’s a market for technology businesses to go public in Europe.
Proposals have been floated for a localised equivalent of Nasdaq in Paris or London. But Robinson insists that only a pan-European exchange would have the necessary scale.
Founding such a market will be immensely challenging. It requires the will of politicians, new legislation, and deeper market expertise. Once those are in place, European tech firms will need to be persuaded to list on the market.
It won’t be an easy process, but Robinson is convinced it would be worth the effort.
“If you have a European version of Nasdaq… it’s a market for technology businesses to go public and list their companies in Europe — and not sell out to become an American software company by virtue of the fact there’s nowhere else to go.”
Phill Robinson will be speaking at TNW València, which takes place at the end of March. If you want to experience the event, we’ve got something special for our loyal readers. Use the promo code TNWVAL30 and get a 30% discount on your conference business pass for TNW València.
A new €15 million fund has launched to help quantum technology research in the Netherlands transform into venture capital-investable startups.
Backed by Quantum Delta NL (QDNL), a foundation that seeks to boost and scale the Dutch quantum ecosystem, the so-called QDNL Participations fund has a twofold focus: early-stage startups in the sector and research teams working on promising quantum technologies before they incorporate as startups.
In the first case, the funding will reach up to €1.5 million — with the foundation typically leading the investment round. In the second case, the fund will offer €50,000 to researchers via a SAFE note agreement, meaning that the funding will be converted into an equity investment once the startup is ready to progress as a business.
“We get in early and provide objective and patient capital.
The fund expects to make around 10-15 SAFE note investments (of €50,000) and around 5-10 seed investments (of up to €1.5 million), Ton van ‘t Noordende, Managing Director of QDNL Participations, told TNW. “We get in early and we can provide objective and patient capital.”
The fund plans to invest in companies across the quantum sector, including hardware, sensors, entanglement, and superposition technologies, as well as communications and essential supply components.
According to QDNL’s proprietary data, 32.7% of sector funding has gone to software, while 64.4% has been invested in hardware, and almost 3% in hybrid hardware-software.“We expect to follow this trend,” said Van ’t Noordende.
As for the research teams that wish to enter the startup world, they’ll be primarily sourced from leading Dutch universities, including TU Delft, the Eindhoven University of Technology, the University of Tweente, Leiden University, and the University of Amsterdam.
“Spinning out of academia still a bottleneck for European researcher-driven entrepreneurship.
Alongside QDNL Participations, the foundation has also launched a support programme for emerging quantum tech founders, called Infinity. This is designed to help Dutch academic researchers navigate the university spin-out process and raise their first funding round, by providing them access to a network of more than 800 deeptech investors worldwide.
Infinity is offered as an “on-call” service for whenever it might be needed, and is free of charge.
“We believe there’s a massive untapped potential as billions of value in new innovations are left unshared and uncommercialised. Spinning out of academia remains a bottleneck for European researcher-driven entrepreneurship,” Van ‘t Noordende added.
Addressing the funding gap in quantum technology
Fundraising is “the number one challenge” for Dutch deep tech startups, Van ‘t Noordende told TNW. “The [funding] gap does not only exist in the Netherlands, but Europe-wide. Investments raised by US-, UK-, and Canada-headquartered startups account for circa 80% of the value of all private investments in quantum technology and circa 62% of all private rounds.”
As he further explained, the majority of funding “is directed at and above Series A stages,” while multiple factors lead to a lack of an early-stage funding. There’s not only a lack of investors specialised in early-stage investment, but it’s also challenging for investors outside of scientific communities to know “where to invest or how to provide longer term support.”
QDNL Participations aims to address this problem by incorporating a global network of leading quantum tech researchers in the process, who are actively involved in a startup’s early stages, and could later become scientific advisors or board members.
“Our fund removes the risks of what’s seen as a ‘wild bet’ and, through direct intervention, increases the likelihood of long-term impact and financial success,” Van ‘t Noordende added.
According to QDNL’s co-founder and Director of Ecosystem Development Freeke Heijman, the goal of Infinity and the new fund is to enable the sustainable growth of quantum startups in the Netherlands, so they can compete in the global market.
Iker Marcaide is one of Spain’s most energetic entrepreneurs. Since stepping away from Flywire, the first Spanish startup to go public on the Nasdaq, Marcaide has focused his attention on impact investing, creating new startups with his company Zubi Group, building a school, and designing an eco-neighbourhood.
Marcaide meets us in a 60-hectare plot of land dotted with trees on the outskirts of the city of València on a sunny, chilly January morning. This is La Pinada, the site where he will build a sustainable neighbourhood (“barrio” in Spanish) comprising homes, schools, co-works, and community spaces.
Today, wooden cabins on the site are filled with people working on Zubi Group startup projects. Across a wooden bridge through the trees, the Imagine Montessori school that Marcaide opened in 2016 is visible.
The Imagine Montessori school. Credit: Zubi Group
As an adviser to TNW València, Marcaide will be speaking about impact investing at our event in March. In the meantime, we’re here to talk to him about founding the foreign-currency payment platform Flywire, why he left the company, and his ambitions for Zubi Group.
Born of frustration
Marcaide came up with the idea for Flywire (then called peerTransfer) in 2009 whilst studying for his Master’s degrees in Business Administration (MBA) and Engineering at MIT. He says he didn’t think of himself as an entrepreneur back then, nor did he come from an entrepreneurial background, but he wanted to create companies that “in some way resonated with me and my needs, things I experienced first-hand.”
Back then, he was experiencing the stress and expense of getting scholarship money transferred to him at MIT from a Spanish foundation.
“I thought, ‘This is unfair, because the people that have the least purchasing power are actually paying all these banking fees… What if we create an alternative to the banking wires in a way that is more cost effective, more reliable, and more fair?’”
Marcaide decided that while they would need sales and business development teams on the ground in different markets, it would be smart to consolidate functions globally, and chose València as the main office for things like administration, tech, and product development.
The company is headquartered in Boston, and has since grown into a leader in cross-border tuition payment transfers for universities. It has also branched into travel, healthcare, and other business sectors. Flywire went public in 2021 at a $3.5 billion valuation.
So what led Marcaide to step back as CEO of Flywire in 2013, when things were really soaring?
“It was a big decision, but a lot of things lined up at that time,” he says. “I realised that you can only be CEO of one company, and assuming you want to be engaged in solving different problems, being CEO of one company would not be an option.”
“When I create companies, I always think that besides being your baby, it has to have a life of its own,” he adds. “As a founder, not becoming a bottleneck is kind of your number one role.”
The Zubi journey
The entrepreneur was already thinking about venture building and how he wanted to focus on companies that, beyond being good financial opportunities, could also play a social or environmental role.
His first big project was venture builder Zubi Labs in 2014, which creates from scratch tech companies that focus on social or environmental impact. Two years later, he founded the private Imagine Montessori school, on the same land that will house La Pinada eco-neighbourhood.
Impression of Barrio La pinada. Credit: Zubi Group
In 2017, the concept and plans for La Pinada began, followed by the creation of an open innovation centre for sustainability, called La Pinada Lab, in 2020.
In 2021, Marcaide launched Zubi Capital to invest in external companies as the first impact fund aimed at venture debt in Europe. All these companies and business units are part of Zubi Group, which numbers over 200 people.
València’s impact potential
Having been born in Boston, raised in Granada, and lived in Madrid, London and the US, Marcaide rightly sees himself as a global citizen. Now his dream is that València will become a hotspot for impact and sustainability.
“You can start something amazing from anywhere in the world, but you have to be very connected. For me, spending time internationally, then being in València as part of a global company, opened my eyes in terms of what it means to be globally connected,” he says. “It’s just a question of plugging in and connecting with like-minded people, of whom there are many.”
He believes that while València can’t perhaps become the biggest tech hub in the world, it could become the most articulated, connected and functional one — at least, that is what he would like to see happen.
“When I was coming to València in 2010 and meeting the ecosystem, I kind of lacked that sense of global connection and global ambition — I think that has changed completely,” he says.
Field of dreams
Marcaide says he would be happy to break ground on Barrio la Pinada tomorrow, but is awaiting building permits from the Valèncian authorities. At the moment, there’s no scheduled date of when the entrepreneur’s brainchild would open its doors.
La Pinada has been designed as a self-contained carbon-neutral community. By consulting with people about how they would like their daily lives to look, the Zubi team realised that everyone wanted things to be simpler in terms of how they live, work, pick up kids from school, and so on.
Impression of Barrio La Pinada. Credit: Zubi Group
“Cities are not organised that way, normally you live somewhere, you work somewhere different, the school is somewhere else, and you spend half of your day moving around — a lot of social and environmental issues are precisely derived from that,” Marcaide explains.
The Pinada project has created opportunities for new startups that could support this dream, ones working in areas like energy, waste, and the circular economy. As well as housing, the goal is to have schools, co-working spaces, living spaces, and a broad community mix of young and older people, professionals, families, and singles.
“At Zubi Group, I think we’re at that hockey stick point, when you start putting the pieces together and delivering value much quicker,” Marcaide says. “We’ve been putting in a lot of the foundations and the team, so Zubi in 10 years will be far more global, a different order of magnitude to where we are today.”
If you want to experience València’s ecosystem for yourself and listen to Iker Marcaide speaking on stage, we’ve got something special for our loyal readers. Use the promo code TNWVAL30 and get a 30% discount on your conference business pass for TNW València.
